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DPOC issues Statement on Alvarez Comments to Chase Family

This press release was issued very early this morning from the Democratic Party of Orange County. The comments are from Party chairman Frank Barbaro only:

DPOC Chair Frank Barbaro (c) 2009, TheLiberalOC.com

Democratic Party of Orange County Chairman, Frank Barbaro today issued the following statement concerning the recent remarks made by Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez. Chairman Barbaro noted that due to his being in a complex trial in Riverside, he was not able to respond earlier to press requests:

Statement from Frank Barbaro, Chairman, Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC)

The Democratic Party of Orange County does not condone the recent comments made by Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez. Her remarks were inappropriate, offensive and hurtful.

We strongly agree with the Anti-Defamation League’s position that no matter how strong one’s objections to any government policy, invoking the Holocaust and the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people is grossly offensive and has no place in civil political discourse.

Using the Holocaust as an analogy for the frustration of local politics displays an ignorance of history and an insensitivity to the tragedy in human history that saw the murder of six million Jews and millions of others. The use of words such as “ethnic cleansing” had no place in meaningful debate and discourse at the Santa Ana City Council meeting.

While Councilwoman Alvarez is not officially connected to the Democratic Party, other than through her voter registration, we have supported her candidacy for City Council and have high regard for her accomplishments both as a City Council person and as a District Attorney here in Orange County.

As Chairman, I would remind all public officials that regardless of the issue or the intensity of the moment, that we need to rise above the demeaning rhetoric and encourage advocacy that is vigorous but free from personal, hostile attack.

Councilwoman Alvarez has publicly apologized but she must now apologize directly to the people she offended.

Well said although it should have neen said immediately. And Frank agrees with me that the apology needs to be personal. That said, Alvarez still needs to step down. She does not have the self-control expected in an elected official and her politics opportunistic at best.

Randy

August 30, 2011 at 10:27 am

And should such a person being working for the District Attorney?

SA Resident

August 30, 2011 at 2:53 pm

The fact that she won’t apologize to the Chases is a true indicator that Claudia Alvarez is not sorry at all for the hateful things she said.
Her apologies in the press lack sincerity and, in fact, she makes it clear that she may be sorry the Chases are mad, but she’s not sorry about what she said.
Whether the issue is downtown taxes, impounding cars of illegal immigrants, building skyscrapers, the runaway city budget, or any number of other highly charged emotional issues, there is no excuse for any elected official getting carried away and resorting to hate speech.
Who will be victimized next when Claudia Alvarez decides to have a bad day and gets “carried away”? Will that person (or people) be Jewish? African American? Asian? Gay? Some other subset of the population that makes up the real diversity of the city?
True prejudices come out in stressful situations, and Claudia Alvarez has now tipped her hand that she carries hate for at least some people in the community.
The comments Claudia Alvarez made reflect her true self, and that is a person unworthy of representing the residents of the city.

The Santa Ana city council and mayor need to come out forcefully to make it clear that the actions of one individual council member in this instance don’t reflect on the council or city as a whole.
They should remove the mayor pro tem position from Claudia Alvarez (she was acting as the mayor when she attacked the Chases) or maybe it would be best to remove her from the city council entirely.